Part II. Railroads in the market and social space: Moving goods in the marketplace

Moving people, transmitting ideas

Part III. The making and the unmaking of the state: Professionalizing and politicizing the railroads

Crisis management

Part IV. On track to socialism: Postwar reorganization and expansion

Permanent revolution and continuous reform

Conclusion: The legacies of China's railroad system.

As a vehicle to convey both the history of modern China and the complex forces still driving the nation's economic success, rail has no equal. Railroads and the Transformation of China is the first comprehensive history, in any language, of railroad operation from the last decades of the Qing Empire to the present. China's first fractured lines were built under semicolonial conditions by competing foreign investors. The national system that began taking shape in the 1910s suffered all the ills of the country at large: warlordism and Japanese invasion, Chinese partisan sabotage, the Great Leap Forward when lines suffered in the "battle for steel, " and the Cultural Revolution, during which Red Guards were granted free passage to "make revolution" across the country, nearly collapsing the system. Elisabeth Koell's expansive study shows how railroads survived the rupture of the 1949 Communist revolution and became an enduring model of Chinese infrastructure expansion. The railroads persisted because they were exemplary bureaucratic institutions. Through detailed archival research and interviews, Koell builds case studies illuminating the strength of rail administration. Pragmatic management, combining central authority and local autonomy, sustained rail organizations amid shifting political and economic priorities. As Koell shows, rail provided a blueprint for the past forty years of ambitious, semipublic business development and remains an essential component of the PRC's politically charged, technocratic economic model for China's future. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780674368170 20190204

How have smartphones shaped the way we socialize and interact? Who tracks our actions, our preferences, our movements as recorded by our smartphones? These are just some of the questions that journalist Elizabeth Woyke answers in this muckraking expose.

Toll roads, bridges and tunnels represent the most popular class of infrastructure attracting international private finance today. Many deals, however, expose financiers, insurers and other project counterparties to demand risk. This moves traffic and revenue forecasts centre-stage in terms of being able to understand and test the investment proposition - yet the forecasting process itself often remains a mystery. Additionally, there are frequent concerns about predictive reliability. Written specifically for credit analysts, investors and other professionals whose primary expertise lies outside transportation, this book lifts the lid on the 'black box' of traffic and revenue forecasting. The author, Robert Bain (ex-S&P and a civil engineer with 20+ years of forecasting experience) has prepared a straightforward guide which highlights key issues to watch for and suggests ways in which the forecasts can be analysed to improve transparency and investor understanding. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780956152718 20160605

From one of the founding executives of FedEx comes the first full inside story of how Fed Ex came to be one of the world's most successful, innovative, and admired companies Frock reveals the details of how the company was conceived, launched, kept afloat despite incredible obstacles. The story contains examples like pilots using their personal credit cards to gas up the planes employees deferring cashing their paychecks and Fred Smith gambling with FedEx last 40,000 Vegas to win a week's worth of operational expenses. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781576754139 20160610

Although general economic reforms were initiated in China in 1978, for over a decade China's telecommunications industry was largely untouched and remained an administrative monopoly. As a result of ongoing overall reforms, as well as interactions between internal and external forces, China started to reform its telecommunications regime in the early 1990s. In a relatively short period, fundamental changes have taken place in a number of key areas, including regulation, market access, competition, foreign investment and the like. In 2000, the Chinese government issued the Telecommunications Regulations, to meet WTO standards, set out fundamental competition rules and clear away obstacles barring foreign and private investment from the telecommunications sector. In the past few years, a number of rules covering various regulatory issues have also been made, including the long awaited Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Invested Telecommunications Enterprises. The Chinese government, meanwhile, continues the process of drafting a comprehensive Telecommunications Law, with passage expected in 2003. In studying China's telecommunications reforms, this book applies a Public Choice Plus theory, which analyses interactions between various discrete factors or forces in policy-making and, in particular, the roles of interests, ideology, technology, ideas, institutions and the internationalisation of markets. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9781590335406 20160528

Electronic mail is a primary means of communication among computer users. It is text-based but conversational and spontaneous, and it has its own special rules and restrictions. E-mail has the potential to reach instantaneously one or thousands of people worldwide, giving users incredible power and accessibility. The book explains in a concise, easy-to-use format essential e-mail guidelines and rules. It covers style, tone, typography, formatting, politics, and etiquette and outlines basic rules of composition within the special context of writing e-mail. It also includes samples and templates for writing specific types of e-mail correspondence. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780201627091 20160528

Part 1 Analytical framework: introduction-- perspectives on the policy process-- a model of the decentralized policy process-- institutions of telecommunication policy-- economic characteristics of the telecommunication industry.

Part 2 The development of competition: competition in terminal equipment-- initial long distance competition-- interconnection and long distance competition.

Part 4 Alternatives to the divestiture model: the dismantling of structural separation-- competition in local service-- price caps and regulatory boundaries.

(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Will the rush of the information superhighway leave US telecommunication policy in the dust - or will US policy keep pace with and effectively regulate the future of telecommunication? Former FCC Bureau Chief Gerald Brock argues that the existing agencies with overlapping responsibilities can set policy that will steer the telecommunication industry through the high-speed changes just around the corner. Brock develops a new theory of decentralized public decision-making and uses it to clarify the dramatic changes that have transformed the industry from a heavily regulated monopoly to a set of market-oriented firms. In an authoritative, up-to-date history of telecommunication policy - informed in part by his firsthand experience - the author looks at decisions made by the FCC, state regulatory agencies, the Department of Justice, Congress and federal courts. He demonstrates how the decentralized decision-making process - whose apparent element of chaos has so often invited criticism - has actually made the United States a world leader in reforming telecommunication policy. Brock traces the flow of information through the bureaucratic web that regulated the divestiture and earlier transitions, such as the first monopoly-eroding attachment of terminal equipment and the development of private microwave systems. Throughout his analysis, Brock convincingly shows that decentralized policymaking generates rational outcomes consistent with public preferences. Replete with details on the role of subsidies in influencing policy, and including in-depth analysis of events after the divestiture, this study could regenerate US policymaking in telecommunication and other public realms. It should be of use to readers interested in the current debate over President Clinton's proposals concerning the information infrastructure, and architects of public policy and those who study it. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780674872776 20160527

In 1970, a young flyer just back from Vietnam got the idea for a streamlined fleet of airplanes that could deliver packages overnight. Now, Federal Express delivers millions of packages around the world daily. This is the first biography of the single-minded, often ruthless genius who founded the company and made it into the mega-business it is today. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780517585108 20160527

Noam's book is the first major attempt to address the complicated economic and public policy issues of telecommunications in Europe. He provides a thorough discussion of the evolution of central telephone networks, equipment supply, new value-added networks, and new telecommunications-related services in a detailed country-by-country analysis. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780195070521 20160605

The past decade has witnessed a surge of pricing innovations in the U.S. telecommunications industry. This book systematically reviews recent innovations in the economic theory of pricing and extends results to the conditions which characterise telecommunications markets. The implementation of normative pricing theory is examined in selected US telephone tariffs, providing a rich and diverse data base and laboratory for examining the practical consequences of pricing innovations. The authors develop and illuminate the relationships between the normative economic theory of pricing - with its objectives of social welfare, economic efficiency, and fairness - and telecommunications pricing as it is practised by business and regulators. The general theoretical pricing principles and lessons of US pricing experience discussed are directly applicable to telecommunications services in other countries, and to numerous other industries including electricity, gas, rail and air transport, and postal services, as well as economists studying the economic theory of pricing. (source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780521426787 20160528